Close to Home: Women Reconnect Ecology, Health and Development Worldwide - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0865712646 ISBN 13: 9780865712645

Publisher: New Society Publishers, 1993

Synopsis

Shiva, Vandana (Ed.)

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

A revolution is in the making, a restructuring of the seats of power. And at the core are the women of America; the 'hysterical housewives' who wear that title as a badge of their courage. As Cora Tucker, a Black woman in the South says, 'You're exactly right. I am hysterical. When it comes to matters of life and death, especially mine, and my family's, I get hysterical.' The women activists in the Movement for Environmental Justice are proud of the energy and emotions they put forth in these battles.

Over a five day period, chemicals were released from the site to flow through our community-over public roads, flooding our homes, and inundating the elementary school just three-quarters of a mile below the site. During that entire time we were not informed of what was occurring; we assumed that the puddles our children played in and the water our animals stood in was just rain water runoff. We had no idea that we were being exposed to toxic chemicals and it was not until people noticed children's tennis shoes falling apart, and Levis disintegrating that we began to suspect something.

Review:

This book is about women confronting corporate and government abuse in their communities. These stories are both horrifying and infuriating; to think that the death of a child could be construed in corporate language as "acceptable risk." Exposed are shocking accounts of gross negligence in predominately poor communities throughout the world, including the U.S., and the fight waged by women who refused to stand by and watch their homes and loved ones suffer. Since the rumblings of such incidents as Love Canal or books like Silent Spring (42) have died down or been efficiently capped, it seems to be un-chic to publicize such abuse. Unfortunately, the levels of pollution continue to rise, and the war waged against poor communities, many with heavy concentrations of women and children, is far from over. Inspiration is found in the light of human triumph as these women, refusing to stand down, attempt to rebuild their homes and salvage their lives. -- From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by Ilene Rosoff

About this edition

• Publisher: New Society Publishers
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0865712646
• ISBN 13: 9780865712645
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 170
• Editor: Shiva Vandana